Evgeni Nabokov

Having already used one of their two compliance buyouts from the new CBA, the Islanders have some decisions to make before the start of next season. Improvements need to be made and impact players need to be brought in if there is any hope of contending next season. Due to their already small budget, a compliance buyout may have to be used to make sure that they have money available to acquire the right players.

After a week in western Canada and 3 days off, the Islanders returned home on Friday night to begin a 4 game home stand welcoming the San Jose Sharks to Nassau Coliseum. They defeated the Sharks in December in San Jose but couldn’t complete the season series sweep on home ice.

Plagued by injuries, and shorthanded by recent trades, the Isles will field a lineup consisting of many who started the season in Connecticut. This is even truer in light of Michael Grabner’s concussion. There is no time table for Grabner’s return, and in truth, it’s not likely he will play again this season. Therefore on Thursday, the Islanders recalled Johan Sundstrom from Bridgeport.

The New York Islanders goaltending carousel continues to spin as earlier this week Kevin Poulin was loaned to Bridgeport and Anders Nilsson was recalled. Goaltending is still something the organization needs to address through trade or free agency, but the home grown goaltending talent seems to be running out of time to prove their worth.

The first day of the new month was one the Islanders would like to forget having been defeated 5-1 by the New Jersey Devils at home this afternoon. The game was overall a poor performance and one like this that hasn’t been seen from the Islanders in almost two months.

In a battle of the Olympics’ top two goal scorers, the New York Islanders came out on top on the strength of Lubomir Visnovsky’s snap shot from the slot 1:55 into overtime.
Toronto’s Phil Kessel and the Islanders’ Michael Grabner each had five goals in Sochi to pace Men’s hockey in the Olympics, and each of these wingers factored in tonight’s offense.

The NHL trade deadline is scheduled for March 5th, just a few days shy from officially being one month away. Typically, that would leave for plenty of hockey to be played between now and then, but that isn't the case this year with the Winter Olympics coming up in just a little over a week.

In fact, there are only seven NHL games to be played between now and then.

They currently hold a 21-28-8 record that is good for 50 points and 14th in the Eastern Conference. They are also 10 points away from the eighth placed Philadelphia Flyers.

With the Islanders having lost their last five games in a row, all signs point to this team becoming sellers at the deadline.